Anjali, And The Art Of Learning Through Imitation

One thing about children is that they are instantly and constantly imitating things that they see or hear. And now that Anjali sees and hears a lot of stuff from people and television and books, and is also understanding the use of language, she instantly and constantly imitates. From expressions on people's faces (on which we have no control), to animation pictures, storybooks or nursery rhymes, songs or dances, she is instantly imitating them. Baloo, the bear says something in 'The Jungle King' and she is instantly repeating it, a new rhyme at school (the latest is something that goes 'Walrus is something..) and she is at it all day, or she asks me to play 'Lakdi ki kathi..' on the car stereo so she can sing along. She sings 'Meharauli' in the song like 'rolli' and probably associates it with rolling because she makes a rolling movement with her hands.

An 'Imitation Class' on Sinhagad

The thing is that even though she is wrong most times, she is not scared to say, or do, what she thinks is being said, in a sincere attempt to learn. That is probably one reason why kids learn so fast, because they are not afraid of saying the wrong things or of being corrected. Once we correct them, they are quickly repeating the corrected versions and off they go with it - new and improved. Of course there are times when she insists that she has got it right, and that we have it all wrong, and there is nothing that one can do about it in those times. But those times are rare. From words, to sings, to rhymes, to dances, to languages, everything is quickly imitated and said and used and corrected if need be. Some things are pulled out of association, something she has heard before and applied, again in several wrong contexts and some right, and is learning by application. And she, as all children, learns hundreds of new things every day, every week.

The flexibility of their mind and their non attachment to the 'right' is what I think makes them so unique and delightful, such scene stealers. They just flow, right or wrong, completely unaffected by the outer world, or what they think. That is why they are spontaneous, that is why we love watching them, for their honesty, for their willingness to learn and for just being themselves. I also think that their physical bodies reflect their state of mind, in terms of mallaeability and strength, as saplings when compared to rigid trees, and can thus survive storms that great trees cannot. We do so underestimate their strength.

In comparison adults are stuck with fixed opinions, beliefs and grow so rigid that they develop arthritis. We are right, you are wrong. And for this right they fight themselves, their families, their societies, countries even their own gods. What does the god know of his own good? I know better. They go to war because they cannot see another way, they do not believe that they can be corrected. They cannot imitate nature, life, which flows in harmony with one another. They cannot see a world where things can coexist, where people can fight because they have a difference of opinion but can also make up after that, share, forgive, and live happily together. With adults it is either 'us' or 'them'. Countries fight for years without knowing what they are fighting for. Families, factions, do not forgive one another for lifetimes. So rigid that they cannot bend. And have to break.

The learning has long since stopped. Adults use words and ideas dangerously. They use regressive ideas as if they are progressive. This is learning that is inward - for negative growth. But what we need is positive growth. Outward. We need not be afraid of making mistakes to get a better outcome. But making the same mistakes again under the garb of being 'safe', and staying stuck, nay, going backwards is unacceptable.

There is much to learn for us from the child. Perhaps it is time we went back to primary school and learnt everything again. Through imitation of good systems and practices already in place, through learning from mistakes, by being flexible, by being growth oriented.

S. Anil Kumar, MD, Fieldturf Tarkett - How To Build a Successful Startup

Meet S. Anil Kumar, CEO and promoter of Great Sports Infra, a pioneer who brought the concept of next-generation artificial grass and sports surfaces to India as recently as in 2004. As the exclusive franchisee for Fieldturf, the world's leading artificial turf manufacturer, Anil's small and compact team, based out of Hyderabad, has already installed an impressive 2300 installations in India and has opened up the market for artificial turf in sports and non sports (landscapes) in the country. Of the above there are about 100 sports installations, including 5 football fields, the Salt Lake stadium being the most impressive.

Anil Kumar, MD, Fieldturf Tarkett, India

I have known Anil for a long time. As a strapping young lad who stood at 6 feet 3 inches when he entered the Osmania University Engineering College, he had the unmistakable look of a sportsman, an athlete, and so he was. He was three years junior to us and we were in our final year, but we sportsmen bond fast and so it was that he, John, Sanjay and some others were known to us well. He always came across as a level headed, reserved, well mannered and polite young man, one of the few who dressed well and carried himself well, did his own thing and lived life on his terms. I remember him as a javelin thrower and then as a Captain of the University handball team as well, someone who participated in all the sports and cultural events and always left a mark. And fittingly, he married another junior of mine, and another accomplished sportsperson, Sujatha, who was a national level Handball player. Anil is also a childhood friend of my good friend Naresh Raghavan, both hailing from Padmarao Nagar.   

Post engineering Anil did his MBA from Symbiosis, Pune and worked with Wipro for a couple of years (1993-95). Then he joined Ramco Systems and worked with them till 2004 growing rapidly in the company and heading the ERP Business for North America when he quit. And then Anil did something interesting, which is what this interview is all about. He started a new company and relocated to India in 2004. I met him then, as I had also just quit my job and was embarking on a new career as a writer, so we both share certain things. As luck would have it, his initial marketing collateral was developed by Sheila, for whom I wrote copy. So Anil became one of our first clients (and mine for copy, I still have the first Fieldturf brochure filed away in my portfolio). Apart from his enormous patience and grace, the thing that impressed me most about Anil was his eye for detail and the thoroughness with which he did things, the amount of work he put in and the way he did it all with a smile. Always.

Today he has grown his company into a Rs. 14 crore company in the span of six years, pioneering a highly priced and unheard of concept in India, with his own resources and no real backup in terms of finance or marketing, which is no mean task at all and I wanted to ask him how he did it. How he made his startup successful when most fold up pretty soon.

Q) You are a first generation entrepreneur? How did it all start?

A) I was always keen on doing something on my own. Even in my tenth class I remember answering advertisements for franchisees for Arrow shirts and even MRF (for a retreading unit). I would get my application typed by a typist who sat near the Secunderabad Railway station, fastidiously underlining or highlighting certain parts of the letter in red, and end the letter with words to the effect that my father would put up Rs. 1 lakh for my venture. I never heard from Arrow or MRF but I was pretty clear even then. I took an elective on Entrepreneurship Development during my Engineering days at the Osmania University Engineering College to gain some insights into entrepreneurship and then did my MBA to gain the knowledge behind business management. I was pretty clear I would work for a while, study business as an employee, and then take the leap when I felt I was ready. So I put in a little over a decade of work and then took the leap.

Q) What did you learn on the job that made you feel confident that you could take the leap?

A) I was frontline sales in Wipro and learnt what it means to be that but in Ramco, a smaller company, I learnt much more. When I was in the US, I was responsible for setting up the distribution system. This involved lots of work and confidence building, for myself and the distributors who were investing time and money, since we were a relatively small, unknown player in the market. I had to instill a sense of comfort in the distributors which I carefully did by staying close to them, keeping all my commitments and gaining their confidence. I guess in the end it was that trust factor that saw me through than the hardware of agreements etc even though they were important as well.

Q) Was that a point in time when you realised that your quality of keeping commitments, however small, could be the way you did business? Did that belief get hardened then?
A) Not really. I think I was always like that. I never committed anything that I could not keep. I promise something to anyone, I go that extra mile to do that. All the people I know will vouch for that. Even in our business here of artificial turf, which has low or no repeat business, we do everything humanly possibly to deliver what we promised. It is my ethic, now our entire team works this way.

Q) When did you know you were ready for business?

A) After 11 years in Business Development and Business Management in USA and India, I decided to take the plunge. We decided to come back to India. I gave myself two years to succeed at the business.

Q) How did you go about identifying what to do?

A) I analysed the market and looked for a new product. A new product would give me the comfort and cushion of not running into stiff competition, a competitive field. Then I researched about 400 companies which had won export awards. That was evidence to me that they had products that were good enough for foregn markets, and all I was evaluating further was which of those were suitable for India. It did not matter which industry then, because I knew that the mechanics and elements of running a business were the same. I zeroed down to about 8 companies of which about 3 companies showed some interest.

Anil at a play area with the Fieldturf artificial grass in the background

Q) How did you end up with Fieldturf?

A) When I called Fieldturf, their CEO picked up the phone. He has a policy, just as I have here, to take all enquiry calls to stay in touch with the market. Of course, he discouraged me by saying that I had no experience etc and finally asked me to see someone who wanted me to come back with a business plan. It looked like a classic brush off but when I came back with my business plan, working late into night after my day job for many months (as I had no clue of the turf industry),  they could not brush me off anymore. It was pretty comprehensive. So they called me for a meeting in Montreal.
A day before the meeting I ruptured my Achilles tendon while playing basketball and I was taken to the hospital. The doctor advised a week's bed rest. I told him that I had to go for the meeting, took a pair of crutches and landed up in Montreal the same night for next day’s meeting in crutches. I had to hobble around for print outs and making the plan and even drive on that one functional foot before I made it to the meeting. At the meeting it so transpired that they wanted someone with construction experience. I said that India was the only country in which they had no presence. If they gave me a one year franchise, whatever they got from me was a bonus.

Q) How did the meeting go? What were the things you insisted on?

A) Of course everything was still on paper. I said I would raise USD 100, 000 from my side and showed them that I had the expertise of Olympians, Architects, Professionals on my Advisory Board. They told me that they would give me a non exclusive franchise which meant that someone else could also come in and operate in India. I put my foot down and said that my plan was not to be a passive representative, but actually spend significantly to develop the market and for that I needed an exclusive franchise or the deal was off.

Q) Did you foresee those issues before you went for the meeting? Because they are critical to your growth here. How important was your planning and preparation?
A) Yes, I was fully prepared. I had very little information, only about 10% information but I covered all angles, as many as I could with that. I tried to get the selling prices, in India, and get a hang of input costs for the projections. I called a market research company in India but they said they had no reference to such products before so that was a dead end too. I knew that selling sports installations in India was not easy - I had seen the sports bodies function when I was an athlete and knew it might not have changed much. So it was essential that I needed non sports installations. The business plan was exhaustive to the extent of information I had.

Q) How close are you to the original business plan now? What is the deviation?
A)  In terms of numbers, we are 70% on track. In terms of conceptual approach as to things we wanted to do and our approach, we are 90% there. Our first 1000 installations took 50 months, the next 1000 only 22.

Q) Going back to when you signed the agreement, how did you raise the capital and how did you plan the move from the US to India?

A) I had already resigned before I signed with Fieldturf. I had already sold the house as well so my decision was made. I raised Rs. 50 lakhs of which I put in Rs. 25 lakhs and friends and family shelled out $ 5,000 to $10,000 each - entirely based on trust. I had two exit criteria when I started - two years to succeed, or, burning up the capital of Rs. 50 lakhs - whichever came first. I mean if my burn rate was such that I could not do anything with Rs. 50 lakhs in two years I better get back and work in the IT sector where I had a decent reputation. But in the first year of operations, partial year of six months, we closed at sales of Rs. 30 lakhs. So the decision was made. We were here for good. We have now set up a large distribution system, 18 distributors, covering 22 states.

Q) Any moments where you had belief issues? Of giving up?
A) Not to the extent of taking a call on shutting the business but there was a time when the business was 3-4 years in, when I felt like I was running into a wall. Landscapes and non sports would keep us going but the big bucks are in stadiums. And in India football and hockey are not priority anyway nor do they appear to have funds. The sheer effort of pushing it forward for 365 days a year, for returns that did not seem like coming, distressed me for a while.

Q) What is the future then?

A) In 5 years on turf alone, our market should be Rs. 30-40 crore and other product lines should do Rs. 20-25 crore. I am adding products by the side, sports infrastructure products and building material products and that should help propel the figures.

Q) And your role?
A) My role gets limited as systems fall in place. Already in landscaping my involvement is only 10%, in turf it is about 50-60% where stadiums are concerned only, and in new products, it is 90%. But we have remained true to certain ethics we carried into business. We honour commitments, we do not go for untested material which is cheap, we are conscious of the quality we do, we stick to time lines despite holidays etc. Sometimes we see our work ethic rubbing off on our distributors etc which is nice.

Q) What is your big learning from this experience? From making this start up a success?

A) That I can do something that is 10 times this size easily. Now my respect for smaller companies has grown ten fold as well as they have to cope with marketing and advertising costs which appear huge in their scale. In a big scale these costs would almost be negligible. It used to bother me in the early days to spend on various marketing expenses that were really needed but we could not afford them.

Now I realise that it is the same process whether it is a small scale or big scale business. I have understood the process and now whatever the size I know I can handle it - raise resources by approaching a Venture Capitalist, get an angel investor or go to a bank. Size does not bother me. In fact it makes sense for me now to go bigger in scale if the idea is worth backing. That is what the experience has taught me.

Q) What would be your advise to new entrepreneurs or would be entrepreneurs?

A) I have about 4-5 things to say:
1) Don't jump into business without experience. Even if you have an idea, it is better to get some work experience, unless it is a time sensitive idea. It is important to get some insights of how business works. I would advise all MBAs and prospective first generation entrepreneurs to join a company, the smaller the better. Because the smaller it is, the wider is your perspective of how business functions. And 90% of it is the same - big or small business - it is getting the entire perspective that is important. On marketing, production, finance, legal, human resources.

2) Plan thoroughly. Don't go with romanticised business plans. Halve your sales and double your costs in your projections and see if it sustains even then. Be prepared for the worst scenarios because that gives you the strength to stay in tough times.

3) Be around even if things are not happening. At least 2 years. Don't quit early and give up if things are not looking good initially. Most people seem to wind up if things don't happen for six months or a year. It is important to stay there long enough that you give the business or the new concept a chance to slowly pick up.

4) Don't keep doubting yourself, your decision. Now that you have taken the plunge stick it our for that two years and give it your best shot.

5) If there are more than one partner, see that there are complementary skills. Running a business is a different cup of tea from being good with some technical skill. If there are more than one, get one guy to finally take the call and move the decision making along.

It is his attention to detail that makes Anil successful at whatever he does. Coupled with the clarity of his vision, it becomes a huge asset. His planning and preparation is exemplary as the business plan story to Fieldturf indicates. To me that's 90% of the job done. His work ethic is another one for youngsters to learn from - he works long hours, never gets tired, sticks to his primary beliefs and goes by his principles. His demeanour is that of always being in control of the situation. As a leader I know that he makes decisions quickly and wisely, again a product of his preparation, and inspires and eggs his team beyond their limits. And his combativeness and never-say die spirit is evident in the way he went to the meeting on crutches and in the way he stood on his feet in a time when no one knew what this artificial turf was. Surely the sportsman in him contributes to that aspect of never backing off from a challenge. And always with a smile, a smile that you can hear even across the line when he picks the phone.

It is no wonder that Anil does whatever he does well, and will continue to do so, at whatever he chooses to. And for those who wish to follow the path of a setting up a start up, a business venture or even at being successful at whatever they want to do in life, his methods and principles are worth emulating. I know there is along road ahead of you Anil, and that you will achieve much as well, and in the manner you wish. Here's wishing you far greater successes as you go along. Though we know that the result is a given anyway, we will be cheering you on every bit of the journey for sure!

A Chat With Prof. Shiv K. Kumar - Part II

I met Prof Shiv K. Kumar briefly today and could not resist asking a few questions again.

Q) How has your experience been with foreign publishers as against Indian publishing houses?
A) Not much experience with foreign publishers though two of my books were brought out by foreign publishers. One thing with foreign publishers is that they are very fastidious and have a quest for perfection, precision, exactness. Also the marketing is professionally done.Unlike in India.

Q) What is your opinion on the new generation Indian Writing in English?
A) Unfortunately I cannot read much because of my poor eyesight. Doctors have advised me to restrict my reading and writing. I am saving up what I have for my writing.

Q) What changes would you like to happen in IWE?
A) There seems to be too  much focus on advances, royalties etc and too little on the quality of content. Hemingway wrote 80 drafts for the 'Old Man and Sea'. I don't see that kind of a thing happening here. John Ruskin said there are two kinds of books - books of the hour and books forever. Most books we produce here seem to belong to the former category. That is unfortunate because we are supposed to be philosophers and thinkers but we have not touched the core of our culture yet. There is a preoccupation with sex, with the superficial.

Q) Your favourite authors, books?
A) The classical writing will get my vote any day. Dostoevsky, Kafka, Tolstoy. Books like 'Notes from Underground', 'The Trial', The bothers Karmazov', 'The Stranger' are the kind of books I would like to read.

Q) When you write fiction, hwo do you approach it?
A) First thing is that I do not write for an audience. I think one must write to please oneself. In the process you will communicate. But whatever you write, it must be written, so it touches you deeply.

Q) Any process that you adopt while structuring your novel?
A) I believe that the novel should be happening. I have written all my novels on my feet. When I say that I mean that when I go for my morning walk, I open up my mind to things around me. Things that are ahppening. Once the story starts, it takes care of itself.

Q) What about the structured method of writing a novel?
A) I think it loses its soul if its all too well planned out and structured.

Q) What do you look for when you rate good fiction?
A) Credibility. You cannot achieve that unless you write from the gut. Writing that has touched you immensely. You must be committed to the truth. A character of mine, the protagonist from a novel who is a writer says 'I cannot lie to myself when I am writing'. When I am writing I am writing for myself. On this there must be no compromises. The writer must be objective, dispassionate.Also good fiction writing gets involved with the characters so much that each character has a distinctly different point of view, and the writer recognizes that and is honest to that. Imagination is like water, taking the shape of the vessel you fill it in. I look for honest, dispassionate, objective writing.

Finding Your Voice - The Big Thing About Writing, About Life

While editing and rewriting my first novel 'The Misfit' these days, which I wrote ten years ago, it suddenly struck me as to how affected my writing was. It was not me certainly, long and unnecessary metaphors, heavy reading, stop and drag kind of flow that completely slowed the story and dragged it here and there. I can see much that was not right with it and am glad no one published it then. Thank you publishers for rejecting me then. One point for you all. (I will come back with a publishable version though).

The first thing I figured now is that I must not write to impress, to stylise unnecessarily. The bigger idea is to tell the story, to drive it forward to its conclusion, in the best way you can using all the means at your disposal to do that. Most new writers suffer from this problem of trying to find their voice, or style, their distinct signature. And after years and years (sixteen years now since I first wrote my first piece for a newspaper) of writing all kinds of stuff, articles, columns, reports, copy, blogs, novels, short stories - most of which have not been published, I find that I have one style that is most identifiable as mine. The one that I write normally, easily with.

This style comes when I really have something to say. When I am beyond impressing. And it is the style that I used in my third attempt at a novel in 2003, which was 'The Men Within'. I had no time for anything else in that novel as I had enough content. The bigger challenge was to keep it simple, drive it forward and not miss out on anything that I wanted to say. I was concerned for the school boy, as young as eight years old, which is the age of the youngest reader of the book (Prof. Vijay Kumar (OUCIP) told me that his son was eight when he read it and he gets the youngest reader award yet) - who might want to read the story and get something from it - in which case he should be able to. Just as an eighty year old grandma who never played cricket or understands it, should identify with it. I knew the subject well enough to say it with some authority, say it easily. I use that same style almost in my second novel that got published 'If You Love Someone...' (a romance but still it worked) and with the Sunday column in the New Indian Express, I think I am comfortable with that now. Finally. After all these years.

What I am driving at is that for any first time authors, or even any one who is trying to find that distinct voice of their own, it might help to see how you write when write something you know well, something you are passionate about. (Like I knew cricket). Something where you want to tell the story and there is so much of it that  you don't want to pause - you know that feeling. Where you can clearly see the connections as you o along and not stop and try to invent some. The plot, the story, the environment, if it is familiar, if you can 'feel' it, I think you will find it closest to your style. That was my experience. So do find something you like writing about, something you know and want to say it like it is and see if that is the voice you are comfortable with! Of course it may take years to find it, but once you do, all affectedness goes out of the window! And it becomes easy as well.

On another level, I think it is important to find our voice in whatever we do, our essence, so life becomes that much easier for us, just being ourselves.

The Sweepers On the Road

I had been wanting to find out what the sweepers who diligently clean out every piece of garbage and trash from the colony roads get paid. I see them everyday working really hard and doing that extra bit to keep the place clean. Yesterday I was parking my car after my walk when this elderly lady stopped me, swept out that place where I was to park and then asked me to park. Far cry from the days when no one gave a damn about the roads, forget little bits of paper lying about.

I gave her some chai money to keep her motivated and also because I had been meaning to for a while now, having noticed the way she cleans up the road. I asked her how long they work at the roads. She said she and her team of some six women work this colony from 6 in the morning till 2 in the afternoon. They get paid Rs. 4000 by the contractor for that. 'PF and ESI are covered,' she said speaking with great comfort about these two words that many would have, some years ago. But they don't pay on days we don't come sir, she added with a smile and went back to work.

I like the way they talk so easily, or even the way they receive the chai money. Almost as if they were waiting for it. None of that 'no sir, no sir, why sir, thank you sir,' business. But they do a great job, in all kinds of weather. And once in a while we see the familiar sight of their good-for-nothing husbands who look like they have already had a couple early in the morning, land up and fight with them for money. Tough life.

Morning Walks - The Difference

There was a time not long ago when I used to jog like a machine. Anything less than a jog followed by a sprint was not acceptable to me then. But then things started creaking and groaning and now I have settled down to a leisurely saunter now. (But I will get back to that jog again soon, I promise.)

One of the things about jogging was that it needed a nice place which kept the pollution and traffic out. So for almost twenty five years or so, I have been going to the KBR Park, on and off, rain and shine, when I was in the rhythm. From the days that we would let ourselves in through a huge tin gate and walk past the lake, to now, when it is completely surrounded by development, roads, buildings, and by walkways, it is still my favourite place for the morning wog. But these days, since I only need to walk, and there is too much traffic even at the early hour, I sometimes just go off for a walk in streets and gullies near my house, and that is when one sees the difference.

KBR Park is in the heart of the developed part of Hyderabad - the Banjara Hills and Jubilee Hills crowd walks and jogs there.Industrialists, politicians, beaurocrats, film personalities, bankers, Page 3 personalities and the cream of the society walks there. Of course it is open to all and we see all sorts, but the prime attraction are these. They move in groups sometimes, completely involved in their discussions, on politics, industry, projects and what not. Frequently we hear names, numbers running into crores being discussed as we walk by. The ones who are walking single, walk with a perpetual frown on their face, some challenging you to look at them, some worried that you might ask a favour, some worried that you are not noticing them - but definitely with an eye on what is going on around. I can make out a civil servant, the IAS or IPS officer who has retired, but still carries the pride of his job. They are normally angry and look daggers at you. Film personalities don't look at you, but if you ignore them, they shoot a glance as if to say, hey, didn't you recognise me. The businessmen lot are loud and raucous, but are probably more open, or more obnoxious, depending on where they come from. The odd firangis just whiz past as if you don't belong. It is not a place where one can make eye contact, or smile. Too many powerful people, too many things they can do, too many phone numbers on their phones. And of course they carry all the burden with them.

And now, when I walk the streets behind my house it is another world. You see the morning walkers, the shuttle players, and you hear much laughter. The canteens are up and about and the cook is already making tea and morning tiffins like idli and dosa while the canteen owner sits at the counter and urges them all on. There is much talk and banter on nukkads with chai, shared morning newspapers. In the smaller colonies, people are taking to one another with brushes and toothpaste in their mouths looking into each others single room homes. Milkmen, paperboys are at the end of their shift almost. Some shops are already open. Temples are already being visited. Beggars are queued up. And this was interesting - there is a series of lepers and the maimed - who are planted at regular intervals on their little carts. It is amazing, but planted is the word because they sit at such regular distances and intervals from one another, and in the morning when there is no traffic, they stick out for the orderliness. Someone obviously plants them, no doubt about it.

In these streets, everyone is looking at you in your eyes, almost expectantly. They smile easily if you look at them. They have a word for you. The sweepers, the rag pickers, the beggars, the tiffin centre walas everyone. I remember the beggars outside the temple asking me money and I gave them some and asked them 'Will you give me money when I need it?' They all laughed and emphatically said 'Yes, of course'. I am sure they would too.

At the KBR, eye contact is strictly avoided generally. A smile would certainly be a loaded gesture. Once, only once in all these years did I meet one really young girl who was probably still at school then, who smiled, at everyone. Otherwise it is a bunch of cold, isolated people growing even more colder and isolated. I can't even imagine talking money there - not in the manner of give and take as I did with the beggars.

But who knows, maybe it will all change. Until the next smile then. Either, on the streets or at the KBR!

Phas Gaye Obama - Where Is The Movie?

This is a review of a movie I never saw. A movie that I really wanted to see. All the reviews were promising. Great. Last Saturday morning was when I noticed that the movie (despite its good reviews) was running only in one theatre, Inox and one early afternoon show. Raja had some work that day so we decided to watch it on Sunday. On Sunday morning there was a brilliant four star review in the newspapers again which reaffirmed our resolve to watch it. But this day, two days after its release, I could not locate the movie in Inox or any theatre for that matter. It had just vanished. Ironically, this movie had wonderful reviews by the reviewers, signifying a good product that even passed the normally unhappy film critic community, but no theatres.

There were many other movies that were playing in all the theatres, none of which I was keen on watching. I found it quite surprising that movies with bad reviews were announcing that they were super hits, that they were into their third and fourth week. How could they? Had they bought over the theatres for a price and were playing movies in theatres so they could pronounce them as super hits? Fro the kind of budgets we hear, this amount would be paltry. You could as well book all the tickets and fool the audience over a period of time that it is worth watching. Which means that the audience has really no choice despite all that talk about public being bhagwan and Janta Janardhan etc. I really want to see Phas Gaye Obama, so I will have to wait for the DVD. I also don’t want to see any of these other movies that are proclaimed super hits even before they are released. 

Like most other things even these seem fixed. The super hits, the awards, the super stars, the hype. The real cinema, real talent might just get bored and leave.  I however urge them to make the movies they want to, that they believe in. The tide will turn against this sham sometime, hopefully soon. You can fool some people for some part of the time, not all people all the time!